I think if Davis doesn’t improve at all, we could very well see Smoak up by the weekend series against the Tigers. Dunno what roster ramifications that move would have, but I guarantee you we’re in win-now mode and waiting around for Davis to perk up just isn’t going to happen this year. I could see us getting rid of Garko in order to call him up, if nothing else to scare Davis into playing better.
Why not dispose of Garko (who is abysmal in every facet of the game right now compared to Smoak) and begin to threaten Davis’ playing time? Either it scares him into playing better and you can send Smoak back down, or he continues to suck and Smoak gets the playing time. It’s not going to affect anything regarding service time now, so that type of move makes a lot of sense to me.
you don’t call up Smoak because someone is struggling. Especially this early in the season. You call him up when he’s ready. He struggled during his little time in OKC last season. Yes, he’s off to a fast start this year. That doesn’t mean he’s ready. Rushing prospects is a very bad idea. Granted, I’m over-cautious most of the time when it comes to prospects, but I think he needs a couple more months in OKC.
You don’t bring up a guy like Smoak and then send him down later. You wait ‘til he’s ready and bring him up for good. It may not effect his service time now, but it could effect his performance. There have been prospects ruined because they were rushed to the bigs. I don’t think that would happen with Smoak, but it’s better safe than sorry imo.
Smoak is putting up some pretty darn salty numbers and by all accounts is a ready made product in a lot ways. I dont know how much better he’ll be than CD, but if you dont see improvement from CD, Smoak is certainly going to give you better at bats at the very worse. He’s got some ridiculous BB/K ratios in AAA, ratios you dont see very often.
Smoak is putting up some pretty darn salty numbers and by all accounts is a ready made product in a lot ways.
It has been two weeks. Be patient and let him develop. Again, you don’t bring him up because of what Davis is doing. You bring him up (for good) when he’s ready.
But the fact of the matter is that: A) Davis isn’t doing his job well enough, so the Rangers need to find someone who is; B) Smoak is doing well so far (small sample size…. yada yada yada); C) Smoak deserves a chance to see what he can do in the bigs. I don’t understand what bringing him up for a couple of weeks (at least) would do in harming him developmentally. If he succeeds, great, then he’s proven that he’s ready; if he has issues, then he has experience and knows more about what he needs to work on to really take it up a notch to MLB-caliber baseball.
But, I get what you’re saying, I just don’t think it’s as big of an issue with Smoak as you do.
I could see a team juggling their schedule later in the year say around August or so. But to think teams, especially ones not in our division, would juggle their rotations to match up against us is silly. We’ve just unfortunately faced teams with multiple lefties which means we are going to hit at least one if not more on a given series
I don't think a team like the Yankees are going to move their rotation around in order to get a lefty facing the Rangers
They have bigger fish to fry than us. I don’t have everyones schedule up in front of me but I doubt Toronto set their Opening day rotation just so they would have two lefties face us. they only have 1 day off this month outside that day after the opener.
I don’t think Seattle dropped Vargas to the 5th slot in their rotation so he could face us instead of whoever they played their opening series.
I doubt the Yankees fiddled with their rotation so we faced CC and Pettite.
I think we have just been unlucky early in the year with our schedule hitting teams with multiple leafties in such a way where we face them the majority of the time. I imagine we will go through a stretch during the season where we only face a lefty once a week for probably 6 weeks or so.
Like I said maybe come July or August when the playoff picture is becoming clearer you may see teams switch around a guy to face us but here in early April I don’t believe teams are shuffling guys around, off day or not, in order to face us.
Kris will have got it together and you can trade his ass before he turns sour again.
Maybe Kris is a poor mans Mark Teixiera and he does his best work in the second
half like last year which wouldn’t take much.
Smoak and Davis are not good comparisons. Smoak is much less likely to be a complete bust due to his elite plate discipline. Plus, he has already experienced a slump (last year in AAA) and learned how to handle it, something that Davis never experienced. Smoak is the type of player that even if he’s rushed to the majors, he’ll still walk a lot and eventually adjust to hitting big league pitchers, while Davis is the type of player who’s entire career may have been stunted due to being called up before he was ready.
Still, waiting a few more months may reduce the amount of time it takes for Smoak to adjust and make him an instant impact to the lineup. Another year of control would be nice too.
Because if he doesn’t, keep him in Oklahoma City. Yeah, Davis isn’t hitting well at all, but he’s made some many plays at first that have kept the Rangers in games. Davis has a long reach and can do the splits on the turn of a knob and keep errant throws on first. For Smoak, I would keep him in Oklahoma City for the next year and look at options at the end of the season.
First 775 career PA’s for selected Ranger first basemen
Mark Teixeira .253/.332/.480 35 HR 108 RBI
A. Gonzalez .276/.328/.467 29 HR 97 RBI
Carlos Pena .244/.320/.444 31 HR 92 RBI
Chris Davis .256/.303/.481 38 HR 115 RBI
Also at AAA
Davis hit .330/.411/.587 16 HR 61 RBI in 75 games
Smoak is .260/.385/.400 6 HR 28 RBI in 65 games
Smoak will be the better major league hitter but it would really suck (again) to give up on Davis too early and have him batting cleanup somewhere else in a couple years.
The problem is that Davis has hit for NO power so far...
His main contribution should be HR and extra-base hits, but he’s been a singles hitter without BBs so far this season. That won’t cut it. It’s very similar to Vlad and Hamilton’s problems right now. Hamilton isn’t a valuable hitter if he only hits opposite field and Vlad shouldn’t hit clean-up without any power.
I'll go with June 11th...
to kick off interleague play.
slc ranger - April 18, 2010
They're not going to wait until the summer if Davis doesn't improve bigtime.
They can’t afford to, not this year. I give it till mid-May if Davis doesn’t go on a good 2-3 week long hot streak between now and then.
LSJ - April 18, 2010
Well, seeing as that day is tomorrow...
I think if Davis doesn’t improve at all, we could very well see Smoak up by the weekend series against the Tigers. Dunno what roster ramifications that move would have, but I guarantee you we’re in win-now mode and waiting around for Davis to perk up just isn’t going to happen this year. I could see us getting rid of Garko in order to call him up, if nothing else to scare Davis into playing better.
utlonghorn24 - April 18, 2010
Not going to happen...
they aren’t going to cal up Smoak that soon.
That’s just what knee-jerking fans would like to see.
slc ranger - April 18, 2010
I really don't think that's a knee-jerk move.
Why not dispose of Garko (who is abysmal in every facet of the game right now compared to Smoak) and begin to threaten Davis’ playing time? Either it scares him into playing better and you can send Smoak back down, or he continues to suck and Smoak gets the playing time. It’s not going to affect anything regarding service time now, so that type of move makes a lot of sense to me.
utlonghorn24 - April 19, 2010
As others have mentioned...
you don’t call up Smoak because someone is struggling. Especially this early in the season. You call him up when he’s ready. He struggled during his little time in OKC last season. Yes, he’s off to a fast start this year. That doesn’t mean he’s ready. Rushing prospects is a very bad idea. Granted, I’m over-cautious most of the time when it comes to prospects, but I think he needs a couple more months in OKC.
You don’t bring up a guy like Smoak and then send him down later. You wait ‘til he’s ready and bring him up for good. It may not effect his service time now, but it could effect his performance. There have been prospects ruined because they were rushed to the bigs. I don’t think that would happen with Smoak, but it’s better safe than sorry imo.
slc ranger - April 19, 2010
I dont think that's the only reason as of now
Smoak is putting up some pretty darn salty numbers and by all accounts is a ready made product in a lot ways. I dont know how much better he’ll be than CD, but if you dont see improvement from CD, Smoak is certainly going to give you better at bats at the very worse. He’s got some ridiculous BB/K ratios in AAA, ratios you dont see very often.
blalock84 - April 21, 2010
Sigh...
It has been two weeks. Be patient and let him develop. Again, you don’t bring him up because of what Davis is doing. You bring him up (for good) when he’s ready.
slc ranger - April 21, 2010
I understand that concern...
But the fact of the matter is that: A) Davis isn’t doing his job well enough, so the Rangers need to find someone who is; B) Smoak is doing well so far (small sample size…. yada yada yada); C) Smoak deserves a chance to see what he can do in the bigs. I don’t understand what bringing him up for a couple of weeks (at least) would do in harming him developmentally. If he succeeds, great, then he’s proven that he’s ready; if he has issues, then he has experience and knows more about what he needs to work on to really take it up a notch to MLB-caliber baseball.
But, I get what you’re saying, I just don’t think it’s as big of an issue with Smoak as you do.
utlonghorn24 - April 21, 2010
He'll make the trip to Seattle at the end of this month.
octoberty - April 18, 2010
Davis
Wait a minute, wasn’t he 2 for 4 yesterday with a double? If we’re going to kneejerk, shouldn’t we consider recent history with Davis?
After going 2 for 4 we should probably move him to 4th in the lineup.
Oddibee - April 18, 2010
It may be hard to believe for some people but Davis hasn't been completely horrible..
vs RHP — .292 | .370 | .456
vs LHP — .092 | .091 | .091
He just shouldn’t be starting against LHP, which isn’t exactly Smoak’s strength.
coolaid - April 18, 2010
They really should platoon Davis
for at least a couple weeks. If Garko can’t contribute, the club really needs to find a good RH bat.
DJCahill - April 19, 2010
sac fly?
I am trying to figure out how OBP < BA… that’s the only thing I could come up with.
JShoe - April 19, 2010
Typo on my part.
Should be .091
coolaid - April 19, 2010
no worries...
I think it is possible, I just couldn’t figure out how.
JShoe - April 20, 2010
yes, it is possible with a sac fly like you said
blalock84 - April 21, 2010
borbon to AAA
Davis to LF, Josh to CF, Smoak to 1st
Longhorn - April 20, 2010
Huh?
That’s a very bad idea on the glove side, and perhaps a net loss on the bat side as well.
t ball - April 20, 2010
Max gets the first shot.
Ryin A - April 18, 2010
Is it just me
or does it seem like we have seen an awful lot of LHP this early in the season
Garcia34 - April 18, 2010
I know I would juggle my rotation
to get lefties against the Rangers.
DJCahill - April 19, 2010
this
the Angels also have 2 lefties and the A’s have 3 lefties. It is going to be a tough year until we can figure out lefties
NothinG - April 19, 2010
You would sacrifice long term for short term?
In April?
I could see a team juggling their schedule later in the year say around August or so. But to think teams, especially ones not in our division, would juggle their rotations to match up against us is silly. We’ve just unfortunately faced teams with multiple lefties which means we are going to hit at least one if not more on a given series
bigsteve - April 19, 2010
I doubt he means
have a guy go on two days’ rest or completely discombobulate the order.
t ball - April 19, 2010
There are things called days off
and with days off you can choose to keep your regular rotation, or you can adjust pitchers so they face certain teams to some degree.
If I was facing the Rangers, and could use those days off to move lefties up in the rotation and still pitch them on regular rest, I would.
You really are blindingly obtuse, aren’t you?
DJCahill - April 19, 2010
I don't think a team like the Yankees are going to move their rotation around in order to get a lefty facing the Rangers
They have bigger fish to fry than us. I don’t have everyones schedule up in front of me but I doubt Toronto set their Opening day rotation just so they would have two lefties face us. they only have 1 day off this month outside that day after the opener.
I don’t think Seattle dropped Vargas to the 5th slot in their rotation so he could face us instead of whoever they played their opening series.
I doubt the Yankees fiddled with their rotation so we faced CC and Pettite.
I think we have just been unlucky early in the year with our schedule hitting teams with multiple leafties in such a way where we face them the majority of the time. I imagine we will go through a stretch during the season where we only face a lefty once a week for probably 6 weeks or so.
Like I said maybe come July or August when the playoff picture is becoming clearer you may see teams switch around a guy to face us but here in early April I don’t believe teams are shuffling guys around, off day or not, in order to face us.
bigsteve - April 19, 2010
Yeah, of course...
The Yankees have better things to do than win baseball games…
BAC - April 19, 2010
You call up Smoak
when you think he’s really ready and not before. You do not call up Smoak because you’re panicked about Davis, Garko, etc.
t ball - April 19, 2010
Smoak is
more ready now than Davis was when he was called up. I think that is fairly clear.
DJCahill - April 19, 2010
Yeah...
but look at how that has turned out.
I don’t think that means Smoak is ready yet. I really think he could use a couple more months in OKC.
slc ranger - April 19, 2010
sadly this is true and who knows maybe by then..
Kris will have got it together and you can trade his ass before he turns sour again.
Maybe Kris is a poor mans Mark Teixiera and he does his best work in the second
half like last year which wouldn’t take much.
BigGuns - April 19, 2010
To be fair...
Smoak and Davis are not good comparisons. Smoak is much less likely to be a complete bust due to his elite plate discipline. Plus, he has already experienced a slump (last year in AAA) and learned how to handle it, something that Davis never experienced. Smoak is the type of player that even if he’s rushed to the majors, he’ll still walk a lot and eventually adjust to hitting big league pitchers, while Davis is the type of player who’s entire career may have been stunted due to being called up before he was ready.
Still, waiting a few more months may reduce the amount of time it takes for Smoak to adjust and make him an instant impact to the lineup. Another year of control would be nice too.
e2drummer - April 19, 2010
So does Smoak have a glove?
Because if he doesn’t, keep him in Oklahoma City. Yeah, Davis isn’t hitting well at all, but he’s made some many plays at first that have kept the Rangers in games. Davis has a long reach and can do the splits on the turn of a knob and keep errant throws on first. For Smoak, I would keep him in Oklahoma City for the next year and look at options at the end of the season.
Brent Sherman - April 19, 2010
I'm pretty sure...
Smoak does own a glove.
tball.
slc ranger - April 19, 2010
Uh, ok
Obviously we should all be thinking defense above all at 1B.
t ball - April 19, 2010
yes
/MikeE
BigGuns - April 19, 2010
Chris Davis' Glove
may now be the most overrated Rangers thing.
DJCahill - April 19, 2010
Well, and even if his glove cured cancer
gave blowjobs and fed the poor, the bat is still far more important at that position.
t ball - April 19, 2010
We should get Olga Korbut
scoop16 - April 19, 2010
some of those gymnasts would be fun as ballgirls.
t ball - April 19, 2010
By the numbers
First 775 career PA’s for selected Ranger first basemen
Mark Teixeira .253/.332/.480 35 HR 108 RBI
A. Gonzalez .276/.328/.467 29 HR 97 RBI
Carlos Pena .244/.320/.444 31 HR 92 RBI
Chris Davis .256/.303/.481 38 HR 115 RBI
Also at AAA
Davis hit .330/.411/.587 16 HR 61 RBI in 75 games
Smoak is .260/.385/.400 6 HR 28 RBI in 65 games
Smoak will be the better major league hitter but it would really suck (again) to give up on Davis too early and have him batting cleanup somewhere else in a couple years.
Evil Monkey - April 19, 2010
The problem is that Davis has hit for NO power so far...
His main contribution should be HR and extra-base hits, but he’s been a singles hitter without BBs so far this season. That won’t cut it. It’s very similar to Vlad and Hamilton’s problems right now. Hamilton isn’t a valuable hitter if he only hits opposite field and Vlad shouldn’t hit clean-up without any power.
e2drummer - April 19, 2010
What were the strikeout numbers in the first 775 PA's?
Just curious
Dirk Diggler - April 20, 2010
He's started 9 games
and you’re giving up?
Glad you don’t work for me
He just turned 24; hell he’s six months younger than Mitch Moreland. It’s way too early to give up and go with the unproven.
Oh and Cruz was .258/.317/.458 33-112 in his first 775 PA’s
Evil Monkey - April 19, 2010
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